The Party Of Freedom?

WASHINGTON ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬? Mayor Giuliani is calling on the Republican Party to redefine itself as “the party of freedom,” focusing on lower taxes, school choice, and a health care system rooted in free market principles.

Delivering a policy-driven overview of his presidential platform yesterday, Mr. Giuliani outlined the agenda in a Washington speech before a conservative think tank that sought to make clear distinctions between his vision and that of the Democrats, if not his rivals for the Republican nomination in 2008. The former New York mayor’s proposed redefinition of the Republican platform would signal a shift away from any focus on social issues, on which Mr. Giuliani is much less ideologically aligned with the party.

I’ll give it to Rudy, he knows where his power alley is. And I like his talk about our current foreign policy…

[…] he also said the government’s handling of the war on terrorism had done “damage” to America’s reputation abroad.

“We have to say to the rest of the world, ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‹Å“America doesn’t like war,'” Mr. Giuliani said. ” America is not a military country. We’ve never been a militaristic country,” he added, saying national leaders have fallen into an “analytical warp” by defining the battle as a war on terrorism and not, as he deemed it, a “war of the terrorists against us.”

See, one of the reasons that Giuliani is becoming so appealing is that he doesn’t seem like he’s BSing you, much like McCain. But with McCain falling all over himself to align with the religious right, it leaves an opening for Rudy to look like the real maverick of the Republican party, and I don’t think the Republicans realize how much they truly need an independent voice in 2008 if they have any shot at winning the Presidency. This country is pissed at Bush’s brand of conservatism and they want to see something different. They’re not too happy with the Dems either, and so an opening for the independent.

And get this…

Democrats, he said, would want to raise taxes to pay the higher costs of a war. “That shows a dividing line, and to me, a misunderstanding of how our economy works,” Mr. Giuliani said. He said that while Republicans believe that the American economy is “essentially a private economy,” Democrats “really believe, honest, that it is essentially a government economy.”

Citing the tax cuts of President Kennedy, Mr. Giuliani said the Democrats’ move away from a low-tax policy was one reason he left the party to become an independent and later a Republican.

Remind you of anybody who’s revered by Republicans? Yeah, me too.

Still, he’s a long way from convincing most that the Republican party is “The Party of Freedom.” But if there’s anybody in this field who could do it…

My partner Don Norte and myself liked what we heard and I, personally, like what I have read on this blog and others. Rudy is a UNIFIER in a time when we need unification and not division. Yes, it is early but I officially endorse Rudy Guiliani for the Republican Nomination as President in 2008.

In each area, Giuliani consistently pressed the case that GOP policies will be successful so long as GOPers stick to the core belief that “free market principles are really the salvation.” Giuliani, on the GOP: “We’re not always right, we’re not always on our game. … [But] we have to go back to our core principles and build on them.” And what are those core GOP principles? “Freedom. … When we’ve been doing well, we’ve expanded people’s freedom a little bit more,” Giuliani said, citing a history of GOPers beginning with Abraham Lincoln, and including “our greatest and most effective presidents,” Theodore Roosevelt and, of course, Reagan.

Watch your back McCain because Rudy is well on his way to out-maneuvering you.